informationlaw

discipline that deals with the processes of storing and transferring information. It attempts to bring together concepts and methods from various disciplines such as library science, computer science and engineering, linguistics, psychology, and other technologies in order to develop techniques and devices to aid in the handling—that is, in the collection, organization, storage, retrieval, interpretation, and use—of information.

The transfer of information through time requires the existence of some storage medium, which is designated a document—hence the term documentation. Historically, “documentation” emerged as a distinct discipline in the early 20th century, paralleling the rise of empirical research, which was to provide its main source of subjects. The discipline grew in response to the growth of the periodical and the journal as the prevalent media for scientific reports. Whereas books required control through cataloging and classification, periodicals required indexes and abstracts that would bring together for the researcher primary information originally published in divergent sources.

The roots of the discipline of information science lay in three post-World War II developments: the Shannon-Weaver information theory model, Norbert Wiener’s conception of the science of cybernetics, and rapid advances in the design and production of electronic computers. These innovations pointed to a new field of study in which many disciplines could be merged under the unifying idea of “information.” After the Georgia Institute of Technology established the first formal information science program in 1963, the discipline quickly developed at a number of other universities either as an independent field of study or as a specialty within such departments as library...

an integrated set of components for collecting, storing, processing, and communicating information. Business firms, other organizations, and individuals in contemporary society rely on information systems to manage their operations, compete in the marketplace, supply services, and augment personal lives. For instance, modern corporations rely on computerized information systems to process financial accounts and manage human resources; municipal governments rely on information systems to provide basic services to its citizens; and individuals use information systems to study, shop, bank, and invest.

As major new technologies for recording and processing information have been invented, new capabilities have appeared. The invention of movable type in the mid-15th century and the creation of the portable typewriter at the end of the 19th century are but two examples. Each of these inventions led to a profound revolution in the ability to record and disseminate information. The first large-scale mechanized information system was Herman Hollerith’s census tabulator. Invented to process the 1890 U.S. census, Hollerith’s machine represented a major step in automation, as well as an inspiration to develop computerized information systems. One of the first computers used for such information processing was the UNIVAC I, installed in the U.S. Bureau of the Census in 1951 for administrative use and in General Electric in 1954 for commercial use. Beginning in the 1970s, personal computers brought some of the advantages of information systems to small businesses and to individuals, and the invention of the World Wide Web in the early 1990s accelerated the creation of an open global computer network. This was acompanied by a dramatic growth in digital human communications (e-mail and electronic conferences), delivery...

the acquisition, recording, organization, retrieval, display, and dissemination of information. In recent years, the term has often been applied to computer-based operations specifically.

In popular usage, the term information refers to facts and opinions provided and received during the course of daily life: one obtains information directly from other living beings, from mass media, from electronic data banks, and from all sorts of observable phenomena in the surrounding environment. A person using such facts and opinions generates more information, some of which is communicated to others during discourse, by instructions, in letters and documents, and through other media. Information organized according to some logical relationships is referred to as a body of knowledge, to be acquired by systematic exposure or study. Application of knowledge (or skills) yields expertise, and additional analytic or experiential insights are said to constitute instances of wisdom. Use of the term information is not restricted exclusively to its communication via natural language. Information is also registered and communicated through art and by facial expressions and gestures or by such other physical responses as shivering. Moreover, every living entity is endowed with information in the form of a genetic code. These information phenomena permeate the physical and mental world, and their variety is such that it has defied so far all attempts at a unified definition of information.

Interest in information phenomena increased dramatically in the 20th century, and today they are the objects of study in a number of disciplines, including philosophy, physics, biology, linguistics, information and computer science, electronic and communications engineering, management science, and the social sciences. On the commercial...